


Truths Too Close To Home

by heartsdesire456



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Episode: s01e02 0-8-4, Established Relationship, M/M, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's impromptu visit to see Phil starts off on the wrong foot when he learns that Phil lied to him about a certain aspect of one of his missions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truths Too Close To Home

**Author's Note:**

> The summary sucks, sorry! It's not much of a fic, mostly just a little random idea I had to write down.

Clint smirked when Fitz looked up from his desk and screamed a high, loud, strangely feminine scream. “Holy heart attack, Barton!” he cried and Clint chuckled.

“Awww I missed you too, Fitz.” He looked around. “Where’s your cuter half?”

Fitz glared, clutching his chest still. “Don’t bloody do that!” He huffed. “I thought I was rid of you giving me palpitations,” he accused.

Clint opened his mouth to reply, but the door burst open and Clint glanced over just as Fitz yelped and ducked behind the table, peeking his eyes over the top at the – admittedly good looking – man poised with a gun drawn. “Fitz?!” Simmons shoved past the agent and rushed over to Fitz, who just stood up, cheeks flushed.

“I’m alright, just-“

Simmons looked at Clint for the first time and gasped. “Barton! What are you doing here?!” She rushed over and hugged the larger man suddenly. “It’s so good to see you!”

Barton grinned, hoisting Simmons off her feet. “How’re my favorite geeks doing?!” he asked, winking at Fitz. “Still cute as a button, Fitzy.”

Simmons laughed, swatting at his chest as he put her down. “How did you get on the Bus?”

“What’d I miss?” a new voice asked, and Clint looked over just in time to see an unfamiliar face duck beneath the arm of a sadly all too familiar one. The girl gaped at Clint, then smirked. “Awww who ordered us a stripper? That was so nice!”

FitzSimmons cracked up but Ward straightened, shoulders back. “Why are you here? How did you get here? You’re not cleared for this-“

“Save it, Ward,” Clint said with a cocky grin. “Came to visit Phil is all.”

Ward’s expression slipped a bit. “Wait how do you- Avengers aren’t cleared to know-“

“Level 7 before Avenger,” Clint said, smirking. “Not that I’m not totally claiming that last title too.” He glanced at the new girl and Simmons bounced up a little.

“Oh, yes, Specialist Clint Barton, this is our new hacker, Skye,” she introduced. “He’s _Hawkeye_ ,” she explained to Skye pointedly.

Skye eyed him curiously. “What does Hawkeye want with A.C.?”

“And why are you calling your superior officer his first name?” Ward asked Clint, who just rolled his eyes.

“Why don’t you ask Phil yourself?” He looked at Skye. “Do you really call him A.C.?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think he likes it very much, but he’s too cool to be ‘Agent Coulson’. He needs a cool name.”

“Where is Coulson?” Fitz asked. “He could’ve stopped my four cardiac episodes I just had,” he said with a pointed glare at Clint. 

Skye made a face. “Mom and Dad are fighting again,” she said and both Simmons and Fitz looked uncomfortable at the news. Agent Ward just snorted softly.

Clint raised an eyebrow. “Mom and Dad?”

“You know,” Skye said, grinning. “A.C. and May. They’re totally like the parents. I’m waiting for May to pull a ‘shut up or I’ll turn this Bus around, I swear!’ or something.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “I still say the sparks flying between those two are damn near hot enough to burn, if you catch my drift.”

Clint tensed. “Wait… May? Melinda May?”

Ward raised an eyebrow. “Yes. She’s out of retirement, if you didn’t know.”

Clint looked down then glanced back at Skye. “Sparks, huh?”

Skye made a face, then shrugged. “Well yeah? They bicker and sometimes their conversations are so full of double meanings and totally electric looks. Full on sexual tension isn’t something either of them would show openly, but it’s totally there. Especially after that evil chick Camilla tried to seduce A.C. again and May pretty much was the one to save the day.”

Fitz shrugged. “I’d be jealous too if my man’s gorgeous ex-fling showed up all ‘rawr’.”

Skye and Grant both looked at him and Simmons sighed, shaking her head. “Rawr?” Skye asked and Fitz shrugged.

Clint’s jaw clenched. “Camilla Reyes was the woman behind the debacle with the 0-8-4?”

They all gaped at him, but Ward squared up, glaring as he walked closer. “How do you know about that-“

“They’re my favorite geeks, doesn’t mean I don’t have an in with a better geek,” Clint said shortly. “I’m temporarily rooming with a certain someone who happens to enjoy hacking SHIELD for fun, if you can read between the lines,” he said, then grumbled. “Fucking Camilla Reyes. And _May_!” he groaned. He rubbed a hand over his hair and shook his head. “Knew it. I fucking knew it,” he muttered to himself.

“Knew what?” They all turned to see Phil standing in the doorway. He smiled and nodded. “Barton,” he greeted lightly, but Clint turned to him, hands dropping.

“Last time we talked, you didn’t bother mentioning that you ran into _Camilla Reyes_ ,” he said almost accusatorily. 

Phil didn’t visible change expressions, but is casual stillness went to being like stone. “I didn’t tell you details of a top secret assignment because it’s _my team_ taking care of it. You have missions you can’t tell me about, it’s no different-“

“Camilla Reyes is really different, I’d say-“

Phil’s jaw clenched. “My office, not in front of my team-“

“Oh so I’m allowed to come visit, but we can’t have them offering any accidental information-“

May cleared her throat. “You’re actually not allowed to some visit. You just managed to get on the plane before takeoff so I didn’t bother alerting the others of your presence.”

Clint stared at her, then pouted. “You knew I was onboard?”

May raised an eyebrow. “Who started your training, Barton?” she asked pointedly and he rolled his eyes.

“You _started_ my _official_ training,” he amended. “I was already pretty good-“

“No you weren’t.”

“Nat really made me best-“

May shook her head. “I laid the groundwork. I know my own teaching.”

Phil gave an amused little smile. “You’re good but not _that good_ ,” he teased good naturedly. 

Clint, however, was having none of it. “Camilla Reyes, Phil.”

Phil’s smile slipped some. “You could at least remember this is a professional capacity, Barton.”

“Camilla. Fucking. Reyes-“

“Barton-“

“The woman who set us back _two years_ , Phil-“

“Clint!” Everybody looked surprised at Phil’s outburst, until he sighed heavily then narrowed his eyes. “Barton. We can discuss this in my office,” he said with finality.

Clint gave him a sarcastic smile and waved a hand. “Lead the way, Husband-O-Mine.”

The team stood frozen, eyes wide and jaws hanging open while Coulson led Barton out. When they were gone, Ward turned to May with a suspicious look. “So that’s why Barton always got special favor.”

May raised an eyebrow. “He got special favor for being good. Suck it up,” she said with a shrug. 

Skye frowned, gesturing to her and the empty doorway. “Wait, I thought you and A.C. …well, you know.”

May shot her a flat look. “What, just because we’re both seasoned agents means we’ve got to have sex? What do you think this is, a soap opera?”

Fitz frowned. “Wait, all this time Barton and Coulson have been _married_?! Barton used to hang out with us all the time and we just assumed he and Agent Romanov… well, you know,” he said, and Simmons nodded with a little shrug.

Skye whistled. “Ooooh so what about that Camilla chick? O-M-G!” she mock-whispered, then looked at the others. “Right, I’m just gonna- yeah!” She jogged the hall, then rushed to plaster herself to the door of Coulson’s office.

May rolled her eyes. “I’m too old for this crap,” she said, walking the opposite way.

~

By the time Skye snuck up to Coulson’s door, she could hear the argument already raging inside. “Phil, you could’ve just told me!”

“Why would I worry you with that? All you needed to know is that I was injured and there was danger, nothing else is important. I only told you that much because you would worry otherwise when you heard the Bus was damaged.”

“I’m your husband and the woman that almost stopped us from getting together in the first place tried to kill you, Phil! What about that isn’t important?! This isn’t about SHIELD, this is about our marriage-“

“SHIELD is our job, Clint. Our marriage is personal, SHIELD is business. Anything that happens on SHIELD time is business. That’s how it’s always been, and how it always will be.”

Skye cringed, already predicting the outburst that-

“SERIOUSLY?! What the hell, Phil? Our life isn’t like that anymore and you know it! I didn’t sneak on here, I was _let_ on here because Fury knows what lengths I’ll go to to see my husband and he didn’t try to stop me. Although apparently so much for that! Your team doesn’t know you’re married and it’s not just ‘God’s Gift’ Ward or Hacker Girl, it’s my first CO and two people who were my _friends_ before SHIELD booted my ass to the ‘untrustable’ list and cut off my contact.” Skye heard silence and pressed closer to the door, straining to hear. “What would you’ve done?” Clint asked suddenly, voice low and strained. “If she hadn’t been out to kill you, what would’ve happened with Camilla Reyes? Be honest. Your team sure as hell thinks you two were on the verge of ‘one on one time’ in your office-“

“I would never cheat on you!” Skye was startled by Phil raising his voice so unrestrainedly. “You will never let me live down Camilla fucking Reyes-“

“I didn’t know I had a reason to worry anymore until I get here and hear that she was halfway to seducing you before she tried to KILL you-“

“Clint, she was not going to get anywhere. That was a long time ago and it nearly ruined everything, I would’ve never even entertained the idea even if I wasn’t a married man!”

“I just don’t know how to trust that when you’re hiding more than ever before-“

His voice lowered to a mumble and Skye pressed even closer, only to yelp when the door suddenly gave and sprung open under her weight, sending her tumbling in. She sat up quickly, eyes on the arguing couple. Phil gave her a disappointed look that really stung and Clint just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, great, your pet hacker listening at the door, nice-“

“Hey, I’m not a pet anything.” Skye stood up and crossed her arms. “And by the way, while I know it’s not my place to intrude, maybe you should listen to Coulson,” she suggested. “I get being pissed at being lied to. I really do. But this is SHIELD. We all have secrets. His are orders from above.”

Clint sighed heavily. “Yeah and that never mattered before.” He looked back at Phil, then turned to Skye. “Look, I’m sorry for calling you a pet hacker. I’m sure you’re a good agent. I’m just trying to argue with my husband, so…” He gestured to the door and she rolled her eyes.

“So sick of being dismissed to the kids table. I need to learn to fit in the air vents,” she grumbled on her way out.

As the door slid shut she heard a muffled, “Ha, I like her!” and it was almost comforting.

~

Later, when Barton was out in the lounge regaling FitzSimmons with some sort of story that had them giggling madly over drinks, Skye grabbed the bottle off the counter and went to go knock on the door to Coulson’s office. She let herself in and Coulson looked up, then sighed, head in his hands. “Not now, Skye.”

She walked over and dropped the bottle on his desk, setting up two tumblers. “Oh no you don’t.” She sat and poured him a bit more than she poured herself. “Spill the story, dude. Hot Ass Hawkeye is your hubby and he knows you’re alive even though the Avengers aren’t cleared to know that and apparently you had an affair with Evil Camilla before?” She saluted him with her glass. “Your day sucked. You deserve to vent.”

He chuckled weakly, sitting back as he took the glass. “I didn’t have an affair with Camilla,” he defended. “I’ve never betrayed Clint.”

She nodded. “Alright, then spill.”

Phil rubbed at his thinning hair, eyeing her. “May as well. You’re not going to talk or I’ll fix It so that you don’t talk again,” he warned and she waved a hand.

“On with it.”

Phil chuckled. “Clint and I have worked together for over a decade. We’re married. Have been for nearly two years.” He took a long drink. “We’ve only been together three years, but we had feelings for each other for years. What happened with Camilla is that Clint and I had been growing closer and closer for a while. It was the first time he got ‘almost died’ injured that really rattled me,” he admitted reluctantly. “He thought he was dying and I did too, so while we were waiting to be rescued, I held him,” he said with a small smile, eyes glazed. “It sounds so ‘romance novel’ but he was bleeding out, no amount of pressure was helping, and we both ‘knew’ he wasn’t going to last. We didn’t say anything, no dramatic declarations, but I held him in my lap, stroking his hair while I helped keep pressure on his wound, and I just… looked at him. We sat there talking about distracting things because we both thought he was going to die in my lap right there and neither of us wanted to be the first to admit that we both felt the same way for each other.”

Skye smiled. “Awwww, that’s so sad but sweet.” She nodded. “Alright, here does evil lady fit in?”

Phil took another sip of his drink. “Clint lived. He lived and we both freaked out some because we _knew_ it was mutual. It was undeniable after that. But he was off missions for a while to recover and I was shipped out before we got a chance to talk. I met Camilla on that mission, we had a tryst, it was just sex for the sake of getting Clint out of my head.” He cringed. “You have to understand. A relationship between specialists and their superiors is _not_ allowed. Ever. So even if we wanted something – and we didn’t really want to risk that – one of us would have to quit our job and we both only even lived for SHIELD, really. In my mind, it wasn’t ever going to be possible and I needed to get over it.” He shook his head. “I got back and… Clint was waiting for me.”

Skye whistled. “Waiting as in… ‘welcome home, sweetheart’?”

He chuckled. “Not exactly,” he said, sipping his drink. “More as in he had spent our months apart planning to confess his feelings and take the initiative to make something happen. He was willing to face the consequences to be with me and then before we could even talk, he heard all about ‘Coulson’s hook up’ and it hurt him. I know it did. But he faked it like it was fine, we never talked about it, and for two years we went right back to ‘Agent and Asset’.”

Skye cringed. “What happened in the end to change that?”

“We sort of went on the run together for a few weeks while we were trying to bring in another asset. We were on the run with a young woman and I thought I could tell Clint was interested in her and it all came to a head when I tried to give them some peace and quiet and Clint just blew up and shouted that he didn’t want her, he was in love with me, had only ever been in love with me, and it just… it all came together,” Phil said with a shrug.

“And how did you get married? I thought you had to stop working together?” she asked.

Phil shook his head. “We did it in secret. Nobody knew we were married. We were together in secret, and then when I was reassigned to Tony Stark, we got married in secret as well. Only the young woman we included in our ‘team’ knew about it. She witnessed on the marriage certificate so she had to know.”

Skye smiled. “So what changed things so that you don’t tell him about all of this?” she asked, gesturing around them. “Wait, he said Fury ‘let’ him on. How does the Director of SHIELD know you’re married now if it was a secret?”

Phil’s expression tightened. “Because SHIELD didn’t know about our marriage, he was put on the ‘below clearance’ list with the rest of the Avengers when I died.”

Skye frowned. “Wait, died? I thought it was an ‘injured and recovered’ thing, what does ‘dead’ mean?”

Phil chuckled darkly. “Heart stopped, they resuscitated me, I was in recovery for a really long time. Nobody told me that my husband didn’t know I was alive until I was recovered mostly.” He looked up, downing the rest of his drink. “I was ‘dead’ for six months to Clint.” He shook his head. “If I hadn’t been worried about messing up my recovery I’d have punched Director Fury in the face.”

Skye cringed, pouring him another glass. “How long has he known you’re alive?”

Phil cringed. “Three months,” he said and she gaped.

“Holy crap, three months and you’ve spent almost six weeks of that on this plane?!” She cringed. “Damn.”

Phil nodded, looking tired. “I can understand why he’s upset. I do. But him being an Avenger and me being the head of a special task force that he’s not involved in means we are so far from the same level of clearance, and even then, unless our missions interfere with each other, we’re both supposed to be in the dark. I was assigned to the Avengers before they were gathered and died before that job came into effect. I wasn’t given back to that assignment because their existence brought together a whole new area of need, of which I was the most qualified to lead.” He shrugged, drinking a bit more. “Neither of us have lives outside of SHIELD. We’ve never even _bought an apartment_ together.”

Skye gave him a flat look. “You’ve been married nearly two years, only the last nine months of which were messed up, and you didn’t buy a place together?”

Phil shook his head. “Neither of us were off mission much. The last few years between Tony Stark becoming Iron Man and my death during the Battle of Manhattan were full of traveling around on missions. We were together for a few months in the barracks for a top secret project we had, but for the most part it was just crashing together in hotel rooms or safe houses. Occasional weekends at my apartment. Our _lives_ are SHIELD.”

Skye nodded, then tilted her head. “But let’s be real here, dude.” She leaned against his desk, looking at him closely. “Other than saving the world stuff, if it came down to it, SHIELD or him, you have to ask yourself, which would you pick?” she asked. “If it wasn’t about saving people, if it was a ‘side with SHIELD or side with him’, would you pick him or the job?”

Phil tensed, looking up at her closely. “Do you even have to ask me that?”

She made a face. “Dude, I don’t even know which side you think is the obvious choice that I ‘shouldn’t have to ask you’ okay? I admit, we still don’t know each other well, and I know I didn’t even know you had a husband – didn’t know you were into guys even – until today, but you seem pretty damn devoted to SHIELD.” She shrugged. “You didn’t tell your husband that the ‘other woman’ was involved in a mission. No matter how top secret, if it meant losing your husband’s trust or pissing off the Director, the impression I’ve got is that you’d rather risk upsetting your husband than the Director,” she pointed out.

Phil groaned audibly, then downed the rest of his drink. “Well fuck, I’m a terrible husband.” He put his head in his hands. “I didn’t mean it to come across that way to him, I just didn’t want him to worry. He did _not_ handle things well when I was gone. He’d lost his husband, nobody _knew_ so he didn’t get any sort of grief counseling, not to mention absolutely nobody at SHIELD trusted him. I didn’t want him worrying about me with the whole ‘blowing open the Bus’ thing, so I told him it wasn’t as close as it really was.” 

“I imagine that’s not how he thought about it,” she pointed out gently.

Phil nodded, then stood up. “I have to go talk to someone I think,” he said, then paused beside Skye, giving her a grateful nod. “Thank you.”

She shrugged. “Thanks for trusting me enough to talk about all this.”

Phil chuckled. “Well, you don’t know anybody else in SHIELD to gossip to. Besides, you’ve proven yourself when I’ve doubted you.” He smirked on the way past. “And it isn’t like you could hurt Clint if you did turn on us. Not even May could stop Clint without backup. You’re barely able to throw a punch.”

Skye rolled her eyes. “A ‘thank you’ would’ve been enough without the insult, you know!”

~

Phil stopped in the doorway and watched as Clint regaled FitzSimmons with a story that no doubt was Avengers related. “And then I took my last arrow, flipped it to a grappling arrowhead, and jumped-“

“Shut up, you did not!” Simmons gasped, hands covering over her mouth. “You leapt off a building?!”

Clint grinned and nodded. “Yeah, twisted mid-air and shot the building to catch my fall.”

Fitz just gazed at him with stars in his eyes. “Whoa that is so cool.”

Ward just rolled his eyes from across the sitting area. “Bullshit.”

Clint smirked. “Wanna bet, Pretty Boy?”

“No way did you actually manage that. You’re a sniper, not a housecat,” Grant argued.

Skye winked at Phil on the way past. “What’d I miss? Are we talking cat-like reflexes? May try to kick your ass?” she asked, and Clint shook his head.

Ward snorted. “He swears up and down he jumped off a building, twisted mid-air, shot a grappling arrow into the same building-“

“And swung through a window,” Phil said, catching their attention. He nodded. “He’s done that many times. Not just once.”

Clint smirked. “See? Told you,” he said, popping a pretzel in his mouth. “When’s the last time you jumped off a building, Agent Ward?” he asked with a wink.

Fitz just sighed dreamily. “You are still the coolest person alive,” he said and Clint grinned at the way Simmons nodded absently from Fitz’s side. 

Ward raised an eyebrow at Phil as if to say ask, _really_. Phil chuckled lightly, but nodded, walking over towards them. “There’s a reason he was level seven before being given to the Avengers Initiative,” he pointed out. 

“So,” Skye started. “Were you part of the Battle of Manhattan?” Everybody tensed and she frowned. “What? It’s just a question-“

“That’s when Phil died,” Clint said tightly and she cringed.

“Oh crap, that’s right, he did.” She slapped a hand over her face. “I’m so sorry, I’m stupid,” she said, then flapped a hand. “Ignore me!”

“And that’s when you got your ass booted out-“

“Ward,” Phil said shorty, giving him a look. “I’d recommend you rethink finishing that.”

Skye frowned and Clint sighed, turning to face her. “Okay everybody else knows so why not you, right? I was brainwashed and I kind of was part of the cause of the whole ‘alien incursion’ thing. It was only my best friend smacking me really hard in the head that fixed me so I could help kick some alien ass.”

Skye cringed. “I know all about not being trusted by SHIELD,” she sympathized, then nodded at Phil and Ward. “They arrested me and kidnapped me into helping them.”

Clint grinned knowingly. “Same. Phil shot me in the shoulder to save my ass from the boss I’d pissed off to bring me in. SHIELD had wanted me for a while and Phil was heading the shadows on me when one of my missions went wrong and the boss was gonna kill me. SHIELD raided the warehouse and Phil shot me. Saved my life, sure, but still. Totally wasn’t cool,” he said and SHIELD gave Phil a cringe.

“Thank you for not shooting me,” she said seriously, then winked. “Or is that only for the ones you like,” she teased and Phil rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, about that,” Fitz started. “How the hell did nobody know you two were _married_?!” he asked, looking between Phil and Clint. “Seriously?”

Clint huffed, sending Phil a glare. “Apparently there’s a lot Phil has deemed ‘need to know’ information.”

Phil straightened up. “And it’s come to my attention that, as my husband, there are certain things you probably need to know. Come with me,” he said, standing and walking out. Clint grumbled, but stood up and followed, waving to the others on his way out.

~

“So, what now? Some other lies you need to cover for?” Clint asked on their way down the stairs, and Phil winced.

“Clint, please. I’m going to tell you truths now,” he promised.

Clint made a disbelieving sound. He smiled when they got to the bottom and he saw the cars parked. “Oh hey, Lola! I can’t believe you brought her with you,” he said, walking over to run his hand along the door reverently. He turned back, raising an eyebrow when Phil opened the door to the SUV. “Seriously?”

Phil shrugged. “Best hiding place on the Bus. We lost Skye for six hours one time. Turns out she was asleep in here.”

Clint hummed and shrugged, then climbed in the car, sliding across so that Phil could climb in beside him. “Okay. Truths?”

Phil nodded. “You want the truth about anything, I’ll tell you,” he said candidly. “Nothing you ask me leaves this truck.”

Clint eyed him, then nodded. “Okay then. Why did you lie to me?” he asked simply.

“Because I nearly died.”

Clint’s face rapidly lost its color and his jaw dropped. He stared at Phil for a while before closing his mouth. “What?” he asked hollowly.

Phil rubbed a hand over his face, looking older and more weary than usual. “I knew if I mentioned the name Camilla Reyes you would want every little detail and I would have to tell you how close I came to death instead of the Disney version I told you about.” He looked over at Clint, meeting his eyes to prove he wasn’t lying this time. “When they blew the 0-8-4, it blasted a hole in the hull. I told you one of the enemy went out and nobody else was in danger. I lied. I nearly got sucked out. Skye pulled a life raft and it plugged the hole to equalize the cabin pressure. I was going out that hole in another second or two.” Clint’s hand twitched on his lap and Phil nodded weakly. “I lied because I didn’t want to scare you, Clint. You lost me once, you just got me back, and I didn’t want you to know how close you came to losing me again.”

“Phil,” Clint choked out in a hoarse, rough growl, before crossing the space between them in a blink, plastering himself to Phil, arms around him as he clung to his husband. “Goddamn this fucking task force,” he spat between clenched teeth. Phil closed his eyes, holding Clint as he shook.

“I’m sorry I lied, but I didn’t want to scare you needlessly.” He kissed Clint’s hairline. “I’m fine. I made it. We all made it. Nobody was hurt, it’s all good. I had bumps and bruises, nothing else. No reason to be afraid-“

Clint pulled back quickly, hands still fisted in the back of Phil’s jacket, eyes narrowed as he looked at Phil. “Can I kill her?”

Phil choked on a laugh, then grinned. “No you can’t kill her,” he said, stroking his hand along Clint’s forearm, his other hand still curled around the back of Clint’s neck. “It’s all okay. I’m sorry I lied, but I made it. It’s all good.”

Clint groaned, letting their foreheads fall together. “Lies. I’m not there to have your six, so it’s not all good.”

Phil smiled sadly. “You know why-“

“Yeah, yeah, doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Clint grumbled, sliding his hands to Phil’s chest, smoothing his lapels absently. “I worked with you for eight years almost exclusively. Didn’t have a mission without me. Can you blame me for not trusting someone else to protect you?”

Phil gave him a wry smile. “Don’t worry, May was just the pilot then, but she changed her mind on field work since. Said the same thing. ‘Who’s gonna watch your back if it isn’t me, Phil?’.”

Clint gave an appraising, scrunched face, then nodded. “Yeah, okay. I can trust May. She’s got what it takes. And hey, at least Skye seems to know what she’s doing if she stabilized the cabin pressure.”

“She’s got potential, but we’ve had our troubles with her,” Phil admitted. “Her loyalties are suspect still, at least to the others. She’s Rising Tide.” Clint raised an eyebrow. “She’s on probation because she went behind our back while tracking a target and sent us on wild goose chases while she helped him get away. The order was to catch him, but she thought our intel was wrong and she wanted to help him.” Phil gave Clint a sideways glance and Clint smirked.

“You know, that reminds me of a certain Suit,” he said playfully, sliding his arms around Phil’s neck as Phil leaned back against the window more. “I seem to remember he had an ex-carney merc he was supposed to take down, but instead he sent conflicting info back to HQ while he set about trying to save him instead.”

Phil hummed. “Oh yeah? I do seem to recall hearing that scenario. Can’t think where though.”

Clint grinned. “You like her, don’t you?”

“I may have a soft spot for our questionable hacker friend, yes,” he admitted, stroking at Clint’s jaw.

Clint leaned into the touch, eyes fluttering. “I don’t need to go all ‘hands off my man, bitch!’ do I?”

Phil chortled. “She calls Melinda and me ‘Mom and Dad’, I think ‘favorite uncle’ is more likely than ‘hot older man’.”

“Her loss,” Clint said, leaning in to brush his lips along Phil’s. “Hot older men in sexy suits are incredible in bed,” he said, then leaned back, looping Phil’s tie around his fist with a smirk. “And in the backseats of government vehicles,” he added, tugging Phil on top of him as he laid back in the seat.

Phil leaned in, kissing him slowly, igniting his insides with every stroke of his tongue. “Oh yeah? I should try that sometime. Funny story, young, limber archers are _amazing_ in the backseats of government vehicles, too.”

Clint moaned softly, eyes fluttering as a hand slid down between their bodies. “Oh yeah?” he asked and Phil chuckled a dark, heated sound against his throat.

“Yep.”

~

Skye came back into the lounge after a while, and Ward looked up from where he was sitting next to May – who was taking a break while autopilot was on – going over a mission report. “Hey, where’s Coulson?” May asked Skye.

FitzSimmons looked up from their… whatever they were doing over by the bar. “Oh he hasn’t come back yet?” Simmons asked, and Fitz cringed.

“You don’t think they’ve killed one another, do you?”

Ward shook his head, then hesitated, looking at May, who shrugged. “They wouldn’t actually get violent… would they?”

Skye snickered, smirking. “Don’t worry, the only kind of violent they’re getting up to is a good kind,” she said and three confused faces and one painful looking eye roll from May turned her way.

“Wait, do you know where they went to?” Fitz asked, and Ward interrupted any attempt to answer.

“What do you mean ‘good kind of violent’. If those two get going, they could really injure one another,” he said and May looked even more annoyed at her team.

Skye raised an eyebrow at him. “They’re in the cargo bay. Alone.”

“Even worse, that’s right by the lab-“

“No, in one of the cars,” she clarified and Ward just looked even more confused. When he opened his mouth, Skye cut him off with an over-patient look. “This may be news to you given the ‘pee in the bottle’ incident, but when a daddy and a mommy- well, no.” She started again. “Sometimes when a secret agent and a superhero _really_ love each other-“

Ward made a horrified face as he realized what she was saying, then waved a hand. “Ew, wow, thanks.” 

FitzSimmons both made faces. “I didn’t need that mental image,” Fitz muttered, then froze. “Wait, you didn’t say _in_ our lab-“

“Nope, more like ‘if the SUV’s a-rockin’, if you catch my drift,” she said, snorting. “I sure as hell didn’t go knocking after I realized that wasn’t turbulence making the thumping noise,” she said, grinning gleefully at the horrified looks on everyone’s faces as they scrambled to go find something – anything – to do somewhere away from her. “I’ll be here all week, be sure to tip your waitress!” she called after them before collapsing into a fit of giggles.


End file.
